NPC Party Members

[rgrove0172]

I have two players in my campaign. There are currently 4 NPCs in their party and Im working myself to death. Trying to handle a new rules system (Im new to PF, not RPGs) running the bad guys, handling the environment and then playing the part of 4 party members is getting really daunting. Should I turn over their party members to the Players? Will this take away from their identifying with their own personal PC?

Thoughts?

[Cevah]

I take it you are running a party of PC characters? Two PCs and 4 NPCs. Cut back the NPCs to only two & give control to players with guidelines and GM override caveats. By giving guidelines, you keep creative ownership, especially if you define the changes at leveling. This will emphasize that the PCs are the player's to control and define, but the NPCs are just theirs for load sharing.

Nearly everything published is geared for four characters. Beefing up encounters to handle extra characters is an art you don't need to learn right out of the gate.

/cevah

[rgrove0172]

Im not using any published advenures, prefering to create my own so Ive taken their number into concideration. I suppose I could have a couple of the NPCs decide to leave during the next lull, or fane some disagreement or something. Of course I could just run them into something really nasty and kill a couple off!

[Bruunwald]

I usually have four or five players at a time. But I have run many solo games and a few two-player games. Cevah's advice is solid; I, too have allowed some small control of the NPCs in such games to go the players, with the understanding that I decide what/if the NPCs will do in severe situations, and also RP them in non-combat, etc.

I also limit them, as Cevah said, and adjust the encounters in the campaign to accent the abilities of the PCs, tooling as many crucial elements as possible to keep the spotlight on the PCs.

Another thing I do, in order to keep the PCs central, is to revolve the NPCs in situations like this, so that there is a nice selection of companions, and so none of them ever take over. This has a nice side-effect of creating a real sense of community for the players, where they have a lot of friends, allies, and even some people they are not too sure about.

[Kayerloth]

Agree with both Cevah and Bruunwald. I've frequently GM'd 1 or 2 player gaming in the past. Usually I adjust the encounters for the smaller party but I've also had npc's join the party and usually would allow the player(s) to run them with the clear understanding that I have the final say in what they will and will not say and do. I also think Bruunwald has excellent advice in his last paragraph about how to keep the PCs front and center. Last it is not an entirely bad thing if the players learn to identify with the npcs for many of the same reasons you want the players to invest in their own characters. They'll be more prone to treating them like true companions and allies rather than stat blocks who help which is a definite plus.